I was inspired when I listened to Dr. Byrne from Lifestyle Rx, a virtual 12 week program to reverse diabetes being interviewed by Dr. Helm.
So excited by the program, I encouraged a client to enroll, she didn’t have a family physician and needed a better way of measuring progress to inspire her to believe that change was possible and effective.
As a previous certified diabetes educator, I listened to the podcast, intended for clients with diabetes or metabolic syndrome. The program measures insulin resistance as c-peptide & fasting blood glucose, (calculated by an algorithm that determines degree of insulin resistance). This is based on a theory of reducing fat storage in the liver & pancreas and weight loss around the midline which will reduce insulin resistance, and improve organ function. Maintaining blood sugar balance and burning fat are of paramount importance. The villain is insulin resistance because it increases insulin production, fat storage and an upward spiral of weight gain.
The Lifestyle Rx program is based on reducing the glycemic load (low carbohydrate diet), building muscle to burn fat with more exercise, being kind to your liver by reducing alcohol and fructose, maintaining gut health and eating whole food with adequate fibre. The goal is to restore fat burning and reverse insulin resistance. Its also important to improve sleep and stress recovery to lower cortisol levels and reduce insulin resistance. The program encourages intermittent fasting for improving the gut microbiome, and reducing food intake along with 150-300min exercise weekly.
People with diabetes are at higher risk for heart disease and metabolic syndrome (increased waist measurement, fasting blood sugar, and triglycerides), fatty liver and insulin resistance.\
I think this program can be a life changing program, I’m quite impressed!
